The Lancer
by Kruger v2521
Summary: Spartan Vance is a model IV Spartan and son of The Blue Titan, Will-916. Living in a time of change and confusion in the Halo Universe, his adventure ranges across the galaxy, making his story legend.
1. Chapter 1: Angry

_**Arch 1: Childhood**_

**Anger**

_2540_

"No, shut up!" Vance yelled, pushing the other kid away before he wiped the angry tears off of his eyes.

"Yeah, I heard you're not even real!" Another kid said from behind Vance, prompting Vance to turn around and push another person, still yelling.

"My dad says he's the clone of a dead baby! That makes you a freak!" The kid said, this time before pushing the smaller Vance onto the floor. As the child laid there, crying, the other kids called him awful, horrible names as they walked away.

Vance just simply laid there for a second, minding his surroundings. When he sat up, there was dried up mud on his face, the dirt on the floor mixing with his tears. He was surrounded by trees and somewhere in the woods. He didn't realize quite how far those kids had chased him, calling him names, trying their hardest to make him cry. Which always worked, eventually.

"Dicks." Vance wiped the mud off of his cheek and stood upright, brushing the spots of dirt and mud and grass-stains off of his shirt and pants before following the sun East, towards home.

As he entered the door into his home, Vance noticed the mood was different in the house. Usually his mother was tired, busy from working her long hours at a job Vance didn't quite understand. When his mother sat there, waiting for him in the kitchen with Jean, both eyes on him, he was nervous.

"Where were ya, kid?" Jean questioned, stepping forward out of the kitchen and into the dining room, closer to Vance and the front door.

"Out, playing with friends." Vance lied as he put his small bag down by the door, making a nervous b-line to his room.

"Cut the shit. Who picked on you?" Aundrea, Vance's mother asked sternly.

"Mom... I... I can't tell." Vance looked down, breaking eye contact with both his mother and his older brother.

"Why not, dude. We're just trying to help?" Jean said softly, crouching down to Vance's level.

"Because last time I told you who hit me, they just did it more 'cause you got 'em in trouble!" Vance said, almost suddenly bursting out into tears and running off into his room, slamming the door behind him as he ran.

Vance buried his head into his pillow and just laid his head there for a few minutes, thinking.

_Do they even understand why I get messed with? A clone of a dead baby? Is it true? I gotta ask..._

Vance stood up and headed to the door, quietly opening his door once he heard voices. He crawled up to the wall behind the kitchen as quietly as he could as he listened to he could, listening to his mother and brother speak quietly.

"Mom. I can talk to him." Jean offered as he comforted his mother.

"He's so angry. He just lives his life in his head. Should I take him to a shrink?" Aundrea asked Jean, on the brink of tears.

"No. Mom, the only thing I think you can do is teach him to fight. He's right, talking to parents wont work, and anything short of a death threat to those kids directly wont work. I know a guy in town. I'll put him in a class. I can pay for it if you want, mom." Vance poked his head around the corner to see Jean tap at a cheap datapad, popping his head back thinking Jean didn't see him. With a smile, Jean continued in a demented route.

"Or, I could just kick his ass over and over again until he learns how to fight."

"What the hell, Jean?"

Jean had a huge smile on his face. Pointing to the corner and mouthing "Vance", he continued.

"Mom, I mean I'll use a heavy pipe or something, not my fists. I'm not a savage. Hell, maybe I can start right... NOW!" Jean yelled as he came around the corner, chasing Vance back into his room, both laughing hysterically.

When the laughter from all three parties in the house died down, Vance approached Jean in the living room as he sat down and turned on the T.V.

"Were you serious about the fighting, Jean?" Vance asked.

"Depends, you ready to get your ass kicked once or twice or five times a week?" Jean replied with a question and a smile.

Vance's expression got serious suddenly: "Don't I already?"

"Good point. I'll hook you up tomorrow. I know a good Muay Thai teacher in town, like I said while you were eavesdropping." Jean pushed Vance by the face, who pushed back. The back and forth escalated until Jean had Vance by the ankle, upside-down, falling face-first onto the couch.

"You're a dick." Vance giggled as he rolled off of his neck and rightside up.

"You're a punk." Jean stuck his tongue out, like a child, mocking Vance.

"Hey! Watch your mouth, Vance!" Aundrea yelled from the kitchen.

"But he-" Vance started, arguing.

"Didn't say 'dick'. Watch it." Aundrea cut Vance off, ending the conversation.

Vance sunk back into the couch, arms crossed and pouting as Jean mockingly raised his eyebrows and flexed his biceps.

* * *

"Welcome to beginners Muay Thai training class. I am your instructor, Jon Wei." The oriental man stood in front of the lost, chattering class of young students, only slightly grabbing their attention.

"What up?" A voice from the crowd of kids replied, disrespectfully. The other kids laughed.

"Other than this class? Nothing. Nothing is up. Now, before we get anymore distractions I want you all to sit down and close your eyes." Wei said as he followed his own instructions, glaring at those who were late to follow suit. Last of which being Vance, who even then refused to sit down.

"Why?" Vance asked.

"Because I'm your instructor. Notice how that sounds a little like instructions. Now follow them." Wei said, sternly, causing Vance to agree to reason and sit down.

_This is stupid. How's sitting supposed to help me with my bullies?_ Vance thought to himself, as he often did.

"Now. Focus on your breathing. Whatever is distraction you, be it your parents in the background, or the bullies at school, forget it.

_That was... Weird..._

"Take a deep breath into your nose... Exhale out your mouth. Calm your mind of any voice or thoughts." Wei said before exhaling deeply.

_How is breathing supposed to calm my mind? This is dumb. I should leave._

"Focus your mind on our class goal: learning the basics of Muay Thai. And on three, I want you to open your eyes and begin warming up before we start. One... Two..."

_On three I'm gonna go before anyone notices._

"Three. Mr. Bolin, would you come be my warm-up partner?" Wei asked immediately.

"Huh? Oh, okay." Vance said, turning suddenly away from his former objective of leaving.

"So, you wish to quit, huh?" Wei asked as he showed the class what stretches to do.

"Uh. Yeah. This doesn't seem very... Useful..." Vance blanketed his statement as carefully as he could.

"Ah. That is too bad. Muay Thai is an ancient martial arts technique and is still considered one of the most deadly forms of hand to hanf combat there is. Maybe you'll find more use in Taekwondo." Wei laughed to himself while Vance questioned what he just said.

"It's just... Stretching. Breathing. Keeping calm? That doesn't sound like fighting, you know? I wanna just go in and kick peoples asses left and right. You know?" Vance attempted to explain while Wei simply stood there, eyebrown raised.

"Here. This is a hook, a jab, and a front kick. All you need for street fighting. Got it?" Wei showed Vance a hook; a simple swing of an arm against the target, a jab; a straight-ward punch, and a simple, self-implicative front kick. Easy to remember.

"Got it." Vance nodded.

"Anne, here. Come spar with street-fighter Vance." Wei called a slightly more experienced student of his to practice against Vance's new found moves.

"A girl? Yo, I can't hit a-" Anne immediately kicked Vance in the nuts, causing him to fall over in pain, easily cutting his sentence off.

Vance stood up after a few seconds of pain to fight again. This time, he led with a right hook, which was easily swatted away and used to turn Vance around and kick him in the back.

_Son of a bitch!_

Vance stood up, now very upset, and charged straight at the girl for a low body tackle. She simply stepped to the side and kicked the right side of his face as he tumbled past her. This time, before he could get up and try again, Wei stopped the fight.

"Victory goes to Anne." Wei said, several people in the audience clapped lightly.

"Do you see now why you need to focus and learn, Vance?" Wei asked, seriously.

"Yes, Wei." Vance said through is teeth.

"Are you ready to calm your angry mind and focus?" Wei asked, slightly more intense.

"YES. WEI." Vance replied again, slightly annoyed.

"Good. Because your brother is paying for this and there are no refunds. I'd hate to see his monthly pay wasted on a dull, angry kid." Wei commented, waving Vance off.

"Hey, man! I-" Vance started, taking one step closer to Wei.

"Shh. Getting upset will be the end of you unless you learn to calm your mind. Go home, consider the things I said, and come back with the loss of your loose tongue." Wei finished, waving off and turning away from the confused Vance.

"Whatever, man!" Vance shrugged, exiting the building quickly and shoving open the door and slamming it loudly behind him.

Jean attempted to catch him before he stormed out, having just watched the past few minutes from behind his hands.

Wei attended to his stunned new students, showing them simple forms of Muay Thai boxing before going over to Jean.

"I was hoping this would help him calm down. Like a channel." Jean rubbed his short-haired head down to his neck, his hair fading ever shorter as he went down his head, his short black hair suddenly stopping as he clutched his neck.

"He'll come back. There's nothing more appealing than learning to fight when you're that angry. I'll do my best to help him as he continues in my class. I promise." Wei put his hand on Jean's shoulder and patted it before he took it off: "How's the fiancee?"

"She's a little annoyed, yeah. Been spending most of my time at school or with Vance. She feels ignored, y'know?" Jean said, laughing faintly despite the truth of what he spoke. Jean's fiancee, Chancy, had even offered to call off their marriage. Jean's situation was becoming more and more desperate, but he had to help his little brother, because he was to only one who could.

"You should go after him, Jean. He'd be walking until morning if he wants to get home." Wei suggested, not knowing anything to say for Jean's situation.

"Yeah. You're right. Yo! Vance!" Jean exclaimed before jogging out of the building to catch Vance.

* * *

Jean walked ahead of Vance, tired from the drive and the hour. It took almost an hour to actually find Vance, who ran off. Jean wasn't mad, he was sure Vance needed the time to think, and Jean needed the exercise.

Jean opened the door to the living room light, hitting right in his eyes, which were adjusted to the dark. He looked into the kitchen, confused for a second when he saw his mother and another, very tall figure. Then he realized who it was.

"Will?" Jean said, eyes wide open from surprise.

"Dad?!" Vance exclaimed, exited as he ran towards his father who'd he'd never met (consciously) before.

"You know I grew up here too, right?" Will said as he paced around in the woods, Vance hopping and jumping around rocks and dead trees cheerfully.

"Really? Why don't you live here anymore?" Vance asked while he walked up a angled dead tree trunk, jumping down into the grass when he finished.

"I'm a soldier. I go to other worlds and help stop the Covenant." Will described his job as lightly and tactfully as he could come up with. He didn't want the child to grow up and hate him, so Will knew he needed to tread carefully these next few days.

"Cool. Aliens... Hey, how come you didn't come to my birthday party? Mom said you said you would, but you didn't?" Vance stopped his playing and asked this question seriously, raising his eyebrows and crossing his arms.

"Last year? I was sent in to help fight off the Covenant on Kholo..." Will said, vaguely.

"Kholo?" Vance continued his questioning.

"Kholo. I was a planet..." Will seemed nervous, and Vance's eyebrows raised.

_He's lying..._

"Really? What happened to Kholo, then?" Vance said, now becoming catty and overbearing.

"We lost, Vance. People died, son. We got there too late to make a real difference." Will said, now slightly angry at the child's interrogating tactics.

"Oh... Sorry, dad. Hey, you think when I grow up, I can be a Spartan, just like you?" Vance's eyes widened with hope for a yes. _If I'm a Spartan, he might come and see me more often..._

"How'd... How'd you know I was a Spartan?" Will asked, not remember disclosing that information.

"Mom told me." Vance replied simply.

"Well, I hope you never become a Spartan, kid. I was my happiest with you and your mother, and war has a habit of tearing that away from you." Will said with an ironic smile, sitting down with his back propped up against a tree.

"Oh... Yeah. Okay, dad." Vance said, sitting next to his father, slightly disappointed.

The two just sat there for a little while, looking down the hill they climbed up, just barely able to see the taller buildings of Klickitat, both Vance and Will's hometown and Victoria's largest city.

"Don't grow up, Vance. Just stay young forever and live life in a way that teaches you how to become a man if I can't..." Will started with a long pause.

_Why couldn't he? Does he not wanna see me?_

"...Cause I could just slip up and die any day. Let's head on back home." Will said, staring off into space before he dragged himself up and began down the hill.

_Die? He's lying... Spartans NEVER die..._

* * *

It had been a week now that Vance had been able to spend time with his father. Other than the hikes and long walks through the city, Vance wasn't spending a terrible amount of time with his father. For some reason, unknown to Vance, his father would come to the door and be turned around by either Jean or his mother.

_Maybe their mad at him for going to war all the time._ Vance thought to himself as he walked home from another long day of school.

As he entered his part of town, the poorer part than where his school is located, he suddenly felt arms around him as he was thrown into an alley.

"What's up, freak? Ready to cry some more?" One of Vance's worst bullies, Earl, said with a mocking tone.

_He sounds like a bully stereotype in a movie..._

"I-" Vance started before another kid, Alex, kicked him in the gut when Vance managed to get up to his hands and knees. With the kick, he rolled over on his back, couching from the force of the hit.

_Dicks._

"Gonna fight back or are we pretend you're not making this easy for us?" Earl chuckled out loud as he looked at his two other friends. They all surrounded Vance.

_Shouldn't._

"If you let me up." Vance said, calmly, to the bully's surprise. Usually Vance would get mad and yell and scream and cry.

The three boys took a step back, all of them chuckled just loud enough to hear as Vance stood.

The first to attack was Alex, from Vance's left side, with a right hook. Vance bent back to avoid the the hit. As Alex stumbled forward from the missed hit, Vance used Alex's own momentum against him, elbowing him in the back of the head. Alex slammed his face into the steel wall of the side of the alley, out cold and nose broken.

Before the other kid, the smallest of the three, could attack, Vance front-kicked him in the testicles, though he aimed for his center of mass.

_Oops. Haha._

The only trouble now was Earl, the biggest of the three, and the oldest one there. Almost ten, Earl stood several inches over Vance. He pulled his arm back and socked Vance right in the jaw, almost knocking the now angry kid on the floor.

As Earl got ready for another rock hard hit, Vance found a large piece of crumbled concrete right under him. He grabbed it and managed to toss it right at Earl's head before he could strike. Stunned from the hit, Earl couldn't keep his balance when Vance tackled him to the floor and put his hands around Earl's neck.

"_ARE YOUR JOKES FUNNY NOW?!_" Vance yelled in the voice he usually only heard in his head. Once he heard himself, he let go of Earl and fell backwards, terrified that he didn't notice the scratchy, low, demonic voice sounded so evil before. Before Earl or the other kid could recover from their injuries, Vance scrambled to his feet and sprinted away.


	2. Chapter 2: Forward

**Forward**

"Oh my God..." Aundrea gasped in horror as her youngest son laid there in the arms in her oldest.

"Mom, he's-" Jean tried to speak as he laid Vance on the couch. He was soaked, covered in water. It had just started to lightly rain when we ventured out to look for his brother, and by this time it was a storm.

Aundrea ran to Vance, stroking his thick, curly, wiry hair and clutching his shirt. "Is he?"

"Asleep." Jean quickly answered, washing the look of devastation in his mother's face: "I found him with Will. I guess he got in a fight in an alley and won, but he went straight to Will's motel."

"Why didn't he come home? What did Will say?" Aundrea said with intensity, stepping towards Jean as she spoke.

"I donno." Jean stated plainly before dragging his feet behind him as he went back out into the rain to his car.

Jean took a second when he entered the driver's seat, looking up at the rain trickling down the windows like he had never seen them before. While he stared, images of what could have happened to Vance shot him back into reality. Jean quickly turned on his vehicle and began driving.

When Jean returned to he and his fiance's place, he fell onto the couch without even turning a light on, attempting to fall asleep and forget his day.

"You know, you could at least try to sleep in the bed." Chancy said, turning on the lights suddenly.

"You usually kick me out anyways. What's up?" Jean chuckled, attempting to hide his obvious nervousness. Most times he had to tread lightly when he wanted to talk to Chancy.

"Your mom called me, told me where you were. Is Vance okay?" Chancy sounded concerned, she even sat right next to her drenched partner, getting damp by proximity.

"Yeah. He just went to his dad. Will finally called me when Vance fell asleep." Jean stood up, stripping away his wet clothes as he spoke, throwing them in a basket in the bathroom down the hall.

"Jean. You don't have to be his father. Will's back now, right?" Chancy stood, hoping to get Jean to spend time with her.

"Will's a good guy, always was. But he's a Spartan and there's a war. Worst part is, he's hopeful. I can't tell you how many times he'd say he'd visit right before another colony gets attacked. Something will come along and he'll have to leave..." Jean paused to put a shirt on, finishing his change into dry clothes: "And Vance will think it's his fault."

"How do you know that, Jean? You're not him, baby." Chancy almost exclaimed, standing up off the couch.

"I spent a good while waiting for Will to come back, Chance. And Vance is my baby brother." Jean said, having now made his way directly in front of Chancy, defensively.

"But I'm your future _wife_." Chancy said, whispering so the neighbors won't complain.

"... So you want me to just cut him out of my life?" Jean said loud enough to echo through the large, vibrantly colored house.

"No... I... I want you back for me. I want to see you more than twice a week, one of them when you need money at the bank! I want to feel like your bride and less like your mistress!" Chancy said, now yelling fairly loudly.

"Excuse me." Jean said calmly before turning off the light and curling up on the couch to sleep right in front of Chancy.

"What the hell are you doing?" Chancy asked, angered.

"Skipping to the end of this conversation. Good. Night." Jean waved Chancy away, who simply groaned and marched down the hallway to the bedroom.

* * *

"Where we hiking to now?" Vance said, climbing a rock and posing on top of it triumphantly. It was a bright day, the storm that started a few days before had now finally passed. The grass was a vibrant green color, the flowers bloomed, and the bugs were everywhere. It was a textbook spring day.

"Actually, buddy, I wanted to talk to you about something really quick." Will said, rubbing his neck and standing crooked.

"What?" Vance asked, cocking his head.

"There's a new armor being produced I need to help test. I need to leave, for a while, buddy. And if something pops up before the testing is over, I'll be gone for a really long time." Will hunched over to Vance's level, speaking slowly so the child could understand.

"Oh. Well... So, you'll be back?" Vance seemed ad at first, but his eyes opened with hope at his question.

"As soon as I have some time off, son." Will patted, Vance's head before walking over to a tree: "So I hear you've learned how to fight. Show me something.

"Okay!" Vance ran over next to his father and began doing simple boxing techniques from his Muay Thai classes. But, somehow, the more he hit, the angrier he got. With every punch, his hands seemed to grow, his grunting from the physical excursion became deeper and deeper until, with a final kick, the now very dead tree tumbled over.

Will had been gone now for almost eight years. Vance, now 16 years old, was in high school.

As Vance looked upwards towards the sky, he noticed the dead, gray sky and medium rain pour down on his face. His mother usually freaked out when he stayed out in the rain, so Vance decided to walk home.

The shortcut home from Vance's favorite side of the woods was through a small part of town, then the downtown part of the city, and then to the apartments where he and his mother lived.

Vance walked with a fast pace through the fairly large downtown area. As he did, he mostly kept his eyes glued to the floor, staring at his dirty, old, black shoes. When he looked up, most times he looked up, he either saw people who were doing just as he was, or people who judged him because he was obviously poorer than they were. He wore a beaten up shirt and worn jeans. Everyone in downtown seemed to turn their nose up at him.

But this particular time was different. When Vance looked up, he saw a girl about his age. Beautiful, long brown hair, light peach skin, and a expensive coat over her even more expensive dress all hidden from the rain under her umbrella. Vance knew this girl from school, Camilla Foster, the school's popular rich girl.

The initial plan was simple: avoid eye contact, cross street if possible, and ignore her all together. She just seemed too perfect for Vance, there was no point in ever talking to her.

"Vance?!" Camilla said, exited, and with a light British accent, running over to Vance and greeting him with a hug.

"Uh, hi?" Vance stuttered nervously as she hugged him.

"I never get to talk to you at school, but I've always wanted to. Do you not have an umbrella?" She asked, observing Vance's drenched outfit.

"N-no."

"Want mine?" Camilla asked, honestly and kindly.

"No, I can't. Your least expensive clothing item is worth more than a kidney, I couldn't take your umbrella." Vance said too fast to not come off as nervous.

"Why are you so nervous?" Camilla asked, laughing casually.

"Honestly? I've always wanted to talk to you, but always assumed I'd make myself look stupid like I am." Vance said, with a deep breath, which managed to come off less nervously.

"Well, I don't find you stupid, I find you funny. I would _love_ to talk to you again at school sometime. But, I should go. I have a dinner date with my daddy. So long!" She said, turning around and heading inside the restaurant as Vance stood there, in the rain, staring blankly at a wall.

"Okay...?" Vance said almost to himself as he turned around and went back to walking home.

* * *

"Hey, mom. Can you drive me to Jean's?" Vance asked, having just changed into slightly nicer, and dryer, clothes.

"Why?" Aundrea asked as she worked on a document on her tablet.

"I told them I'd watch Junior while they go on a date." Vance sighed before explaining hating having to use the extra effort.

"Yeah, okay. Let me go get dressed, we'll go together. You hear about Jean new job?" Aundrea started just before entering her room.

"No. What is it?" Vance asked in reply.

"Well, when Wei refused the job at the boot camp out in the woods a bit to teach the recruits martial arts with no military deployment string attached!" Aundrea stated proudly before entering her rooming and changing.

"Reminds me..." Vance hustled into his room, a completely mess of empty bottles, video game cases, and clothes, and dug up his trophy. It read; "_First Place in Klickitat City's Semi-Annual Mixed Martial Arts Tournament Awarded to: Vance Bolin_"

When Vance and his mother were finally ready to go, they drove the the newer, bigger house Chancy and Jean had got for themselves, mostly from Chancy's banking money.

"Hey there baby!" Vance shouted at his niece as he ran after her and picked her up, pretending to eat her.

"Thank you so much for doing this, Vance. It means a lot." Chancy gave Vance a hug after he set her child down.

"Yeah, it's cool. You two do your old married couple stuff. Us cool kids are gonna go starta ruckus, right Joon?" Vance directed his sentence to Chancy Jr, his niece as Chancy Sr. exited the house.

"Hey, Jean, lemme show ya something real quick." Vance picked up the trophy he set down and showed it to his brother.

"Holy shit, dude. Not even I won that. Damn boxers will snap your neck. Good stuff. Don't let me forget to spar with you sometime when we get back. It's been too long since I've tuned you up. Later, nerd." Jean pretended to slowly punch Vance before hugging his daughter and leaving.

"Okay, Joon. What do ya wanna do?" Vance asked, mostly with faked excitement.

"Spa!" The four year old exclaimed almost inaudibly.

"[i]Alright[/[]... But I wont go easy on-" The fake amount of happy-Vance was soon struck down by a child with a single upward hit right to where it hurt. When Vance hunched over to wince in pain, he received a cruel uppercut to the neck, sending him to the floor.

"Remind me not to teach your martial arts..." Vance said in-between a few breaths.

* * *

Vance sat upright before getting out of his bed. He'd been lying there for three straight, sleepless hours, thinking. Reliving moments in his head he wish he could retry, and what he'd do if he could.

This happened often to Vance, despite the negative effect it had on his schooling. Everyone often claimed Vance was an intelligent kid, but smarts count for nothing if you're falling asleep in class.

Realizing by four in the morning that trying to sleep would be hopeless, Vance began to get dressed in his school's uniform before lying down and typing on his datapad.

All of the lights were off in the house and Vance's door was closed. Inside his small room sat a screen mounted onto the wall, a gaming console, and several video games Vance spent a lot of his time playing, all of which poorly illuminated by the low light of the datapad.

"[i]It's a short day at school...[/i]" Vance said to himself as he read the information on the pad in front of him.

Suddenly, while Vance clicked away at his device, his door handle turned viciously and his door seemingly crashed open.

"What the hell are you still doing up?" Aundrea almost explaimed, obviously upset.

"Whoa FUCK!" Vance cried in fear, not expecting that to happen. He dropped his datapad and rightly crawled backwards on his bed until he realized it was simply his mother: "Jesus, Mom... I couldn't sleep..." Vance finished, almost out of breath.

"Well... You're going to school." Vance's mother said, sternly as she began to close her son's door and return to her bed.

"Yeah, I know." Vance finished, picking up his datapad and continued with what he was doing. He did so until he had to leave, continuing use of his device until he reached the actual campus, hall monitor staff ordering him to put it away.

Vance slipped into the first of his three school periods of the day; History. It was finals week and there were a limited number of classes for the short days they had to take the finals.

The heavy feeling of sleeplessness slowly fell upon Vance as he answered each question. By the time he was finished, he saw he had an hour and a half left in his two hour class. [i]Yes... Sleep...[/i]

The loud bell rang suddenly, scaring Vance into a sudden and defensive upright position. As he looked around to see what was happening, Vance realized it was time to migrate to the next class. Vance stood up and took his stuff, not fully rested and his neck hurting from the slouched sleeping position.

As he turned after exiting the doorway, Vance saw a surprising and friendly sight. It was Camilla, the rich girl who engaged Vance in conversation just a few days ago. He hadn't seen her, not even at school, since then.

"Hey." Vance said shortly as he walked up to the girl.

"You look awfully tired." Camilla commented, looking at the bags under Vance's eyes. She said it in her sweet, elegant, Earth-English accent, which wasn't common on Victoria.

"I don't sleep well, so I'm used to it. H-how are you?" Vance jumped to small talk, at a loss of words at that point.

"Stressed. If I don't pass these finals, my father will tear me apart and send me back to Luna. I do not like it there." Camilla said with a smile, jokingly but truthfully expressing her distaste for the colony on Earth's moon.

"Really? I'd think being in the Inner-Colonies alone would be a reason to stay there, let alone the fact you're next to Earth." Vance had always thought about visiting Luna, Earth, and several other planets far out of his reach, but he knew well there are very few opportunities for poorer citizens to leave their colonies.

"Luna is gray and dead outside of the tubes we're forced to live in. It's too claustrophobic. And Earth isn't as blue as the vids show. Mega-cities'll do that, y'know." Camilla seemed to veer off at the thought of Earth, the mother planet.

"Well, hey, I gotta go fail this math test, but I'd love to keep this up. What're you doing after school?" Vance asked, teeth exposed from his cheeky smile. [i]Idiot. You want to go home and crash after school. Change your mind.[/i]

"I wanted to take a walk about the city, get to know it better. Why?" Camilla cocked her head to the side, waiting for Vance to say the exact right thing.

"... No, that's stupid." Vance laughed, slightly.

"Excuse me?"

"Meet me out front after school, I'll show you something better than a smelly-ass city. Later." Vance waved goodbye as he walked away, towards his classroom.

By the time school was over, Vance managed to sneak in a grad total of three hours before having to leave the campus. Dazed, he would have forgotten to meet Camilla had he not left from the front entrance every day. Seeing her, waiting for him, sprang his memory and sent him to an almost panicked light jog to the girl.

"'Ello." Camilla said, kindly. "What's this you wanted to show me?"

"Oh... Uh, yeah. Follow me." Vance said, leading Camilla down a house-lined street that eventually lead to a dirt path into the dense forest Victoria was known for.

"So... How long've you lived here?" Camilla asked, walking beside the painfully quite Vance.

"All my life. Never left it. You?" Vance replied.

"I lived on Luna until a few months ago. Came to live with my father, who's worried I'm not making any friends. Then, I saw you're name in the school paper when you won that tourney, so I figured I could use you to get him off my back... If you didn't mind..." Camilla replied fast, almost nervously.

"Nah, it's cool." Vance laughed a little at the story: "Use me any time you want.

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes during the walk to the forest.

[i]Heheh...[/i]

[hr]

The two, after a mildly long walk, eventually came upon a waterfall. Thick, short, and very common on Victoria, Vance assumed that it would not be such a big deal to Camilla, and pressed forward.

"We're here.  
Vance said, stopping.

"Oh my God, Vance. Is this it?" Camilla said, shocked.

"No, uh, no. Listen, this isn't what I wanted to show you!" Vance panicked, thinking Camilla was appalled he'd make her walk for such an anticlimactic sight.

"But it's so beautiful..." Camilla said in awe, observing the entire area around the waterfall. The shallow pool at the fall's base, the slow-flowing river beyond it. All of it amazed her.

Vance grabbed Camilla's hand while she look up and around, mouth wide open with amazement.

"C'mon." Vance tugged her hand and lead her around the pool and into the waterfall. Behind the falls was a well hidden, small cave that only on of them could fit through at a time. After a minute, everything around them was pitch black until they turned the corner. A low green light illuminated the path onward. Vance let go of Camilla's hand to crawl through the narrow space.

Inside, thousands of small shrub-like plants glowed green. The cavern opened wide, the glowing plants covering the floor, walls, and ceiling for what seemed like miles.

"They're fungus and hey only glow in the dark. I think they're local to this cave, 'cause I've been to plenty with nothing like this." Vance said, lightly, as Camilla stepped forward and touched one, wincing her hand back at the word 'fungus'.

"Is it...?"

"As long as you don't eat it." Vance smiled as he moved forward: "But watch this." Vance stepped into a small stream that split the cave into two halves of the glowing plants. Vance ran his hands along them, their light shutting off instantly and slowly fading back in as Vance moved away.

"Vance... They're beautiful. What do you call them?" Camilla asked in excitement, expecting a wonderful a awe-inspiring name.

"[i]Fungus Vancus[/i]? Fuck, I donno." Vance said quickly, jokingly mimicking a defensive stance.

"I would call them... Magelight." Camilla crouched back down, touching the fugus every time it came back to full glow.

There was a small pause when Vance looked over to Camilla, who had her back turned. With the obligatory act of checking her out aside, Vance just stopped to look at her for a second. When she said his name again, expecting a response, Vance answerd: "I guess we'll call it Magelight then."

The two sat there, for the next hour or so, talking about their lives, complaining about people, their families, and telling jokes before leaving the cave and re-entering society. By the time they were by Camilla's house, they were covered in dirt and it was almost night out. Questions would be asked, so Camilla stopped him at the beginning of her block.

"Father would be mad if you walked me home looking like this." Camilla said with a slight laugh. "I had fun, Vance."

"Me too. Uh... I'll see you tomorrow, then?" Vance asked with a pause.

"Of course." Camilla stepped to Vance and gave him a hug. As she pulled away, she kissed him on the cheek, turned sharply, and walked towards her house.

"Huh." Vance grunted to himself as he walked away ad looked around, not knowing how to get home from the richer side of town.


	3. Chapter 3: Damage Done

[b]Damage Done[/b]

[i]Several Months Later[/i]

"So... How's life going for ya, kid?" Jean asked Vance as he sipped on his liquor, coughing after the first few drink before deciding to take it more slowly. His wife and daughter was off the planet, visiting Jean's 'In-Law's', so it was a good opportunity to visit with his rarely seen brother. And a great time to drink.

"Pretty good, I guess. Camilla wont tell me if we're official, but other than that, I'm not bitching." Vance laughed, picking up a pen from the coffee table in front of him and spinning it between his fingers, a skill he's mastered since his gaming console had been broken a few months prior. Vance's social life had become much more meaningful since then, coincidentally.

Jean paused, looking down at the floor. He chuckled softly, amazed at what Vance had become; the opposite of what Jean feared. When Vance was a kid, Jean had a horrible image in his head, an image of a man, so burdened by his anger and frustration, he shut himself away from the world until the loneliness killed him. With a unofficial, beautiful girlfriend, passable grades, trophy after trophy of MMA tournament 1st places, and friends he once called enemies, Vance was so much more than the man Jean could have hoped for. The thought sent a single, mildly drunken tear down the elder brother's face.

"Whoa, Jean, you okay?" Vance stood up and stepped towards his brother who laughed and waved him away.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm tipsy and I felt an emotion, which means tears." Jean wiped the tears away and sat upright, setting the glass of alcohol to the coffee table. "Vance. I need to tell you something, buddy." Jean hesitated as he stood upright, facing away from his younger brother.

"... What?" Vance asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know.

"Your dad wants to come and-"

"You really think you can convince me to see that motherfucker? No!" Vance stood up suddenly and began yelling in a half-assed attempt to hush it, only lowering the volume slightly.

"Hey! If my wife and daughter were here right now, I'd smack the shit out of you! And don't shoot the messenger! He wanted me to ask you if you wanted to see him, and obviously it's a no.

Look, Vance. I get why you're angry. And I used to understand and support that. But, I'm a father now, Vance. Every time Joon is mad or upset with me, that breaks my heart man. And she's four! Vance, your dad's at war. [u]War[/u]. Did he ever describe a battle to you before?" Jean's speech paused as Vance sat down, shaking his head in a "No", his glare to the floor and avoidance of eye contact with his brother showing his obvious hatred for this conversation.

"Then you don't know, Vance. The Covenant aren't Aliens you play against in those video games. A marine's chances of surviving a fight against them is so slim, it'll make it look like there is no hope.

Your dad is part of the only hope we have, so cut him some slack when he get's entrenched in a live fire zone or is under siege in a city with a name we can't pronounce!

When you watch the news, and you see the name of a colony under attack from the Covenant, your dad is probably there, fighting for what could be the last time he gets to see you!" As Jean spoke he stepped closer towards Vance, who was twitching with anger. And he would have continued if Vance hadn't jumped up, interrupting him.

"Why? Why does HE fucking deserve that? Why does he get to feel good about this? I just think you don't get it. I hadn't heard fuck all from him when I needed and wanted him the most. That's bullshit. [b]Why should he get to feel like a real father and visit while I still feel all the more alone!?[/b] Vance shouted in a teary cry. His voice cracked as he yelled, stepping forward towards his brother.

Jean knew that at this point, yelling would just go over Vance's head, and all he could do is calm the situation down. "Vance, to be honest, you should encourage him to try. Feel free to resent him, but he's trying. If you just tell him to fuck off, that could be something you regret for the rest of your , encouraging him to try would kinda suck too, but at least you'd know that YOU'RE doing right. But fuck. He wants to try.

"I've lived my whole life just thinking 'Maybe [i]you[/i] did something' 'Maybe there's something the matter with [i]you[/i]' But I wanted to be his son so fucking badly. I've lived my whole life, became my whole self without him. And now that I'm almost an adult, he gets his fucking act together, and I hate it! I don't fucking need him!" Vance retaliated, switching from a quiet anger to a full on yell. There was a pause; Jean didn't know what to say to the tears rolling down Vance's cheeks.

"... I just want to feel wanted, Jean..." Vance broke down, right onto his brother's chest, sobbing and clutching at is shirt as he slowly fell to his knees. Jean went down with him, holding his arms around him as he felt his kid brother's tears soak up his dress shirt.

"It's okay, Vance. It's okay."

[hr]

The crisp, cold night air made everything seem like it was standing still. The loud insects native to Victoria's forests made their mating calls loudly, filling the empty void of the unlit street. As Vance and Jean both walk outside and into Jean's car, they both stopped for some reason, almost syncopated in timing. It was like, something was wrong. But it did not last. The feeling of sudden discomfort melted off of both of them, allowing the two to shrug it off and enter the vehicle.

The drive back to their mother's house was longer than usual and silent. Their argument having jested ended not too long ago. Both's masculinity felt challenged, so both ignored what had just happened.

As they pulled up to their mother's house, the brother began a short conversation about the moon. For an unknown reason, it seemed to have a purple tint.

"What's that thing the poles of Earth gets?" Vance asked, shifting his body downward to get a better look at the celestial body.

"Aurora Bori-something. Oh! The northern lights!" Jean short, remembering the factoid later than he began speaking. "But I don't think it should be that color." Jean finished.

As the satellite slid behind a large cloud, the two's attention to it soon faded. Then, as Jean was coming to a full stop in front of their destination- it happened.

The dark-lit, purple, giant ship penetrated the clouds as a blood red light shone from the bottom of its head before a similar colored beam shot out at the ground below. While the blast was far from the brother's position, they felt the shock-wave and saw the cloud form above the treeline. The two shouted.

"Holy shit..." Vance said, mouth wide open in a mixture of discovery and a slowly growing sense of fear.

"G-g-get to the house Vance. Get inside, wake up mom, grab the gun from my room and ready the magazine." Jean said, his mouth equally open with Vance. His hand, on reflex, went out to his side in front of Vance. "Now, now. Go! Go! Go!" Jean exclaimed, the full extent of fear hitting him and Vance both.

Vance sprinted inside the house, visiously shaking his mother in her bed, asleep, exclaiming "MOM! MOM! COVENANT! [b]MOM![/b]" Though she was awake by the first shout.

Jean headed towards the vehicle as he looked up into the sky as he saw what seemed like smaller bombs fall from the carrier's hull. They were, in fact, Covenant drop pods landing in a populated section of the city a few miles away from his house. He got in his Capri and sped off to his house, where he kept more effective firearms to protect his family with.

Inside the house, Vance and his mother stayed locked away in Jean's room. Vance stayed up, despite being exhausted, holding the large magnum upright and towards the door.

"Vance. What's happening?" Vance's mother asked quietly, not yet fully understanding what was going on.

"Mom, it's the Covenant. There here." Vance said intensely but still in a whisper.

"That's crazy[i]![/i] Why would the Covenant come [i]here[/i]?" Vance's mom asked in a loud whisper.

"Probably because there's humans here, mom. They're genocidal assholes[i]![/i]" Vance matched her loud whisper. Before she could reply, he shushed her, refocusing his attention to holding the firearm up and towards the model posted at about Elite head level on Jean's door.

For hours, they waited there in total silence. Eventually, with his mother passed out on Jean's bed and the explosions getting farther and farther away, Vance figured it was okay to not be so militant and at least try to relax. As he did, there were two thuds: a boot to the door and the door to the floor. Someone was inside the house.

The noise woke Vance's mother up with a quiet yelp. As fast as he could, Vance shot himself over to her and covered her mouth with one hand and aimed at the door with the other.

There was a low, echoing voice spoke it's alien language, a yappy, high pitched, nasally voice replied in a language just as unknown if not the same.

The door farthest from Vance and his mother opened suddenly, banging against the wall and what sounded like a thick metal as it swung and hit the before bouncing back and hitting the alien. The room next to them opened in a similar fashion. Vance's hand shook uncontrolably. He'd never shot a gun at anything than a target before. He'd hoped he could always just use martial arts for every hostile situation.

[i]Hand to hand with an eight foot lizard would be ill-advised.[/i] Vance thought to himself as he brought his other hand to steady his aim. It didn't help much.

When adrenaline kicks in, it's said that time seems to slow down, but it's like everything sped up. The thuds came down the hall as the stomp of hoofs and the heavy breathing of a giant alien came to examine the last room in the house. It stopped for a second that seemed like an instant before kicking the door open, one of the hinges popping clean out of the wall.

The larger than life elite minor stepped forward, placing it's small, purple, alien rifle on it's hip. It chuckled lowly as it's four jaws quivered at the thought of a kill. A small, almost transparent blade slotted out of its armor's gauntlet before stepping forward. Despite his shakey aim, Vance fired two bullets, hitting the elite on either shoulder, barely denting it's shields.

All hope for Vance seemed loss. His finger felt weak, themagnum now almost shaking out of his hand as he gave up hope.

When the shots fired, three small aliens with pyramid-like things on their backs turned and panicked, shooting their guns with green, glowing bullets flying through the air. The first fired shot nearly hit Vance's mother in the face, the rest soaked into the elite's shields, obviously breaking them. It turned, yelling at the smaller aliens, giving Vance a second to think.

[i]Humanoid... No more protective shield... Head. Aim for the head.[/i]

Vance jumped upright and took three bounds across the room to the elite standing just under the door. Hearing the running, the elite turned around just too late to protect itself from four bullets to the brain-pan, killing it instantly. Realizing that the smaller ones could still fire, Vance closed the door as much as he could with a dead elite in the way, covering himself and his mother from the proceeding retaliation fire.

[i]Two shot left, three enemies. I wont win...[/i] Vance took out the magazine from his magnum, realizing how screwed he really was. As he looked around for something to use, anything, he didn't realize the obvious before his mother mouthed the words 'Alien gun'.

Vance reached over the dead elite's body, warm, dark, purple blood splashing against his hand. He yanked the rifle off of it's magnetic holster and aimed it at the ceiling as he tried to figure out how to fire it. The huge, heavy, and awkward rifle soon fired. No sight line to aim it on, Vance had to rely on luck of the draw. Literally.

Using the alien corpse as cover, Vance slid on his side, more blood soaking his shirt, arm, and some of his hair as he splattered the blood pool with his presence. He fired with both hands, tearing the smaller aliens apart before they could totally return fire. One shot from an alien was fired just before it screamed and staggered to the floor.

Vance, with the firing mechanism still held down, swept the three grunts to make sure they were dead. Before he could let go, however, the shot suddenly stopped with a loud, cracking noise. There was a hiss of air as red hot fumes leaked out of the side, burning Vance's wrist to at least a second degree. He dropped the weapon, clutching his wrist and standing up as his mother hopped out of the bed and clutching him in her arms.

"Fuck... Mom... I-" Vance began to laugh to himself as he spoke and rolled over to face his mother. As his eys came up, he looked down near his chest; a completely blackened circle on the meaty part of his shoulder glowed a vague green color before fading away. Vance was shot.

Vance rolled over completely on his back, clutching his shoulder as everything became numb. Not even his slightly (in comparison) burnt wrist hurt. Vance just felt a sharp static all around his body as his mother's voice faded into a high-pitched white noise. Vance's vision became blurry and fading to black slightly more and more with each passing second that felt like ten minutes until he eventually passed out.

* * *

_Weeks Later_

Vance, a sling around his arm and a large pad visible through his white dress shirt on his opposite shoulder, stepped up to the podium. There was a silence beset in the crowd, the dreaded moment of the meeting had come, and they didn't know why it had to come to this. Nobody knew, not even Vance.

"I... I don't know what to say..." Vance started, slipping up on his words at the memories. "I was coming home from seeing Jean, and it all just happened so suddenly. We saw the initial bombing from our place just outside the poor district..."

People folded their arms, uncomfortable. Men and women alike started passing around tissue boxes as they focused their entire attention to what Vance had to say.

"He told me to get a gun I didn't know we had and protect mom. I did the best I could. Killed three aliens like I was some sort of fucking video game character..." Vance paused and turned to the man sitting behind him, holding his hand out in appeasement. "Sorry, pastor."

"Go on." He replied softly.

"When Jean drove away... When Jean drove away, that's the last time I saw him. And... I-I can live with that. I could live with my last memory of my brother was that night and him giving telling me something that saved me and my mother's... Mother's life. But..." Vance stopped, leaning his arm on the podium and resting his eyes in his palm as he composed himself. "But just not knowing? Just found on the side of the street? No one seeing anything? That's... I don't think that's something I can..." Vance stopped once more, trying his hardest not to break down. His wide, glossy eyes gazed down at the crowd, focusing on his sobbing mother, sister-in-law, and niece. He went to move on until he looked to the back of the room. A well dressed, tall, dark skinned man came walking in, late, to a funeral.

It was Vance's father.

"... Fuck this." Vance said lightly, but loud enough to be heard. He swatted the mic away from his face and stomped off the stage. Will walked to him, lightly grabbing his arm. Vance swatted his hand away and turned, ready to say something but stopped before even opening his mouth. Staring his father in the eyes brought back the conversation he had with Jean. The last conversation. Vance turned around sharply and exited the building as quietly as he could as the newly widowed Chancy walked up to speak next.

As Vance stormed off, untying his tie as he walked and throwing it into the dirt. His father came outside to speak to him.

"Vance! I-"

"I haven't talked to you in over eight years, relay to you I don't want to see you, and yet you have the FUCKING BALLS to talk to me at my brother's funeral? FUCK YOU!" Vance spat at his father, leaving the man silent and teary eyed.

"I-... I'm sorry for your loss, Vance..." Vance's father stuttered as he spoke.

"I'm sorry too." Vance finished, walking off into the nearby woods at a rapid pace as his father walked back into the building, head hanging down.

**_End of Arch One: Childhood_**


End file.
